CANUCKS BANTER By Andrew Chernoff December 17, 2015
Vancouver (11-13-8) plays the 3rd of four games in 6 nights on their six game road trip, when they face-off against Philadelphia (13-12-6) tonight.
Vancouver defeated Philadelphia at Rogers Place 4-1 on November 2, and are 6-1-1 in the past eight against the Flyers, with a three game winning streak against Philadelphia.
The Canucks have lost two straight on their road trip, and lost their last five games on the road.
The last time the Canucks faced losing six in a row away from home was when they lost 7 games – all in regulation – Jan. 31-March 6, 2014.
Vancouver currently is in 6th place in the Pacific division of the Western Conference with 30 points, just three points ahead of Anaheim in last place. Anaheim has 3 games in hand on the Canucks; Los Angeles, San Jose, Arizona and Calgary, all have 2 games in hand on Vancouver.
Four points separate Nos. 2-7 in the Pacific division, with San Jose in 2nd place, one point in front of Arizona, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver.
Vancouver began their road trip with a 4-0 loss to Chicago on Sunday before giving up a season high 6-goals in a 6-2 loss to Minnesota on Tuesday night.
Ryan Miller was replaced by backup goalie Jacob Markstrom in the 3rd period after allowing six goals through two periods. He faced 36 shots while the Canucks put 21 on net.
“If we compete like that and battle like the way we did, we’re going to get embarrassed again,” forward Alexandre Burrows told the Canucks website after practice Wednesday. “If you care enough, you care about winning, and if you care about this team, you’re going to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
The Canucks penalty kill is 3 for 7 (42.7 percent), allowing 4 shorthanded goals against Chicago and Minnesota; and are 0 for 3 on the power play, all against Chicago, after failing to get a power play opportunity against Minnesota: the first time that has happened this season.
The Canucks have been outscored 10-2 so far on their road trip.
Ryan Miller has a 4.27 goals-against average in going 0-3-1 in his last four road starts.
Vancouver has been outscored 35-16 in going 1-6-3 in its last 10 on the road. Their only win at Minnesota on Nov. 25.
Jacob Markstrom has played in seven games and sports a 1-2-2 record with a GAA of 2.87 and .906 SV%. Markstrom last started a game on December 5 against Boston, where he gave up 4 goals in a 4-0 loss.
Philadelphia is currently 6th in the Metropolitan division of the Eastern Conference, with 32 points, 9 points out of 3rd and a playoff spot.
Goalie Michal Neuvirth and the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Carolina Hurricanes for a 4-3 overtime win Tuesday night, their 2nd win in the last three games.
Steve Mason is the No. 1 goalie despite Neuvirth leading the NHL in save percentage (.937).
The Flyers are 7-4-3 in their last 14 games overall, and 3-1-3 in their last 7 games at the Wells Fargo Center.
The Canucks have won their last two games in Philadelphia and are 4-1-0 in their last five visits.
“We’ve got to stick together. We’ve got to do it all together. We’ve got to work at it and keep a positive attitude and work your butt off in practice and get back to basics. That’s all you can do. And when game time comes, make sure your compete level is at its highest.”— Canucks veteran Brandon Prust
Source:Vancouver Sun,
CANUCKS JOTTINGS
- Canucks not producing:
- Bo Horvat: 1 goal-5 assists in last 21 games
- Derek Dorsett: 0 goals-3 assists in last 21 games
- Jared McCann: 1 goal-3 assists in last 21 games
- Adam Cracknell: 1 goal-2 assists in last 19 games
- Brandon Prust: 1 goal-1 assist in last 12 games
- Sven Baertschi: 2 goals-2 assists in last 17 games
- Chris Higgins: 2 goals-1assist in last 18 games
- Alex Burrows: 2 goals-1 assist in last 20 games
- Canucks producing:
- Henrik Sedin: 7 goals-18 assists in last 21 games
- Daniel Sedin: 11 goals-14 assists in last 21 games
- Jannik Hansen: 8 goals-5 assists in last 21 games
- Alex Edler: 4 goals-8 assists in last 21 games
- Radim Vrbata: 6 goals-4 assists in last 19 games
- Vancouver power play is ranked 17th overall in the NHL: 21 for 114, 18.4%. On the road it is ranked 21rst: 10 for 61, 16.4%
- Canucks penalty kill is ranked 24th in the NHL: 81 for 104, 77.9%. On the road it is ranked 26th: 45 for 62, 72.6%.
- Daniel Sedin is 6th in NHL scoring: 14-20=34 points; Henrik Sedin is t-10th in NHL scoring: 9-22=31 points.
- Alex Edler is 17th in defense NHL scoring: 6-11=17 points.
- Jared McCann is 15th in rookie NHL scoring: 6-3=9 points; Ben Hutton is 18th in rookie NHL scoring: 0-9=9 points.
- Canucks injured: D Luca Sbisa (hand), F Brandon Sutter (sports hernia surgery), and D Dan Hamhuis (facial fracture) are on the injured reserve list.
- Plus/Minus:
- Jannik Hansen: +9
- Daniel Sedin: +8
- Henrik Sedin: +8
- Chris Tanev: +4
- Radim Vrbata: -16
- Bo Horvat: -15
- Yannick Weber: -12
- Ben Hutton: -9
- Canucks defenceman Alexander Edler joins the 600 games played club tonight when he suits up against the Flyers. He becomes the 14th player to reach that mark in franchise history joining active Canucks Henrik and Daniel Sedin, along with Alex Burrows. He’s the sixth blue-liner in team history to reach the mark joining current assistant coach Doug Lidster along with Mattias Ohlund, Dennis Kearns, and Garth Butcher.
- Edler is quickly rising in other areas in the franchise record books as well this season. He recently took over sole possession of second place on the all-time power play goals category by a defencemen (38) behind only Sami Salo’s 48. His 72 career goals are fourth in franchise history among defencemen behind Ohlund (93), Jyrki Lumme (83), and Salo (74), while his 276 points ranked him fourth among all-time defencemen behind Ohlund (325), Lumme (321), Kearns (321), and Lidster (307).
SEASON SNAPSHOT
CANUCKS PLAYERS STATS
FLYERS PLAYER STATS
CANUCKS-WILD AT A GLANCE
Statistics courtesy of NHL, Vancouver Canucks and SportingCharts, with thanks.
Andrew Phillip Chernoff 